Instead of a final exam consisting of a term paper or written test, students taking Innovation Learning had the opportunity to share their thoughts on what they thought a “world class school” would look like.

“Our superintendent, Rich Machesky, has a vision for our district that by 2020 [we would become] a world class school district,” Innovation Learning teacher Heather Kelly said. “He’s really interested in getting feedback from the teachers, administrators and learning community on what that would look like.”

Although the project is still in the process of accumulating research, there is a plan in place.

“It’s our plan to gather and synthesize all the information to determine what themes emerge that makes sense for the Troy School District,” Machesky said.
The developmental project is still in its early stages. The district has met with its faculty, as well as other districts and schools across the nation and Canada. Troy faculty can sign up for a time slot to meet with Machesky. These meetings offer them a platform to share their ideas on how to transform Troy schools. While there are not yet dates for student meetings, Machesky said student input is encouraged.

“I would welcome any student to share information via email or invite me in for a conversation around this topic,” Machesky said.

The need for student input inspired Kelly to create her final exam. She plans to compile the various student responses and share them with Machesky.

“We often don’t take [student] voice into consideration,” Kelly said. “I thought it would be a unique opportunity to open it up to [student] ideas, and when I read through them, they were really interesting.”

Some students used the final to help define what they believed to be characteristics of a world class school and district.

“When I think ‘world class,’ I think of interacting with other schools around the world and sharing the same curriculum,” senior Maxine Toukhanian said. “I feel like there would be lots of emphasis on social skills and learning different languages.”

Other students used the final to express what they wanted to see change specifically at the high school level.

“I wrote that [more should be done] to make students more comfortable and put them in a happier state because we have to be [at school] for so long,” senior Skylar Esuchanko said.

Because the project is still in its infancy and maintains its abstract status, students outside of the Innovation Learning curriculum are -unaware of this potential change in the schools.

“If more [students] knew about it, I think we’d have more of a common idea of [what it could be],” Toukhanian said. “It would help create more ideas and have a bigger voice.”